


A Future Called Home

by Team_Two_Cats



Series: Reasons for Fighting (Suikoden II) [4]
Category: Suikoden, Suikoden II
Genre: Angst, Goodbyes, Happy Ending, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 05:15:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18631558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Team_Two_Cats/pseuds/Team_Two_Cats
Summary: The war is over and Riou stands ready to step into his new life. Before he does, though, he takes a final look back and is presented with the question that has haunted him throughout the war. Why does he fight? Maybe he's finally ready to answer.MAJOR SPOILERS for the endgame.





	A Future Called Home

North Window was a castle full of death. It still is. But now it's also full of love. Laughter. Pleasure. Friendship. In the graveyard, Klaus' cries are cut short as Kahn fills his mouth, as Sierra rides him hard on the grave of his father. Their actions cannot bring back the dead, cannot erase the grief or the tragedy of Kiba's death. But they can limn the memories of the man in a celebration of life, in a release stronger than the cage of war. Together, they can affirm that violence is only one force in the universe, no stronger than peace, than compassion.

Riou doesn't approach the group as they move in rhythm to the song passing through them all. Nor does he interrupt Sid where he pleasures himself atop the mausoleum, small gasps of laughter escaping his mouth with every stroke. But the Bright Shield on his arm gives a small pulse of energy, as if to soothe the guilt that is roiling within him. He could stay here, knows that's what everyone wants. Or...mostly everyone. He moves on.

The performance hall is packed. On the stage Karen and Annallee dance and embrace, their bodies bared to the room as Nico and Alberto play, similarly naked. In the crowd people move to the melody and to the passion inside them all. Bob and Flik make good use of a corner, the werewolf trailing nips along the tender flesh of the Blue Lightning's neck while Nina, face flush, sits at a table, hands busy beneath the table. Another pulse of the Bright Shield. Nothing is ending, Riou tells himself. The castle still stands. Shin will keep it going, will rule with all the skill with which he won the war. It's his reward, and his punishment—the same he tried to avoid in the fire with Leon Silverberg. Now he'll rule, maintaining that picture of disinterest while inside burning with fear and doubt and hope. Hope, most of all.

The dojo is packed with people training. Kasumi, Mondo, L.C. Chan, and Wakaba all move with a fluid grace while Sasuke kneels, arms bound behind his back, a thin collar around his neck chaining him to one of the beams, cock bouncing as he struggles not to move forward. Gengen and Borus occupy another corner, slowly peeling the clothing from each other. The air is full of the damp of sweat, the heat of exertion. The Bright Shield pulses, and Riou moves on, move on. It's not that there is nothing for him here. Not that he couldn't be happy. Not that a part of him doesn't want to stay. But he goes, slipping from the castle with one last glance back, one last memory for the road.

Nanami and Jowy are waiting, cloaks pulled up to hide their faces. Riou, at last, does likewise. They'll have a way to go before they can drop those hoods, before they'll reach a place where no one will recognize them. They've waged war across two nations and involved most of the continent in the conflict. They wonder if Falena is far enough. The Island Nations? Farther still?

First thing is one last trip to the Toran Republic, and a final farewell to Tir. Then...

The air shimmers, and Riou tenses as Leknaat appears. The mysterious rune master wears loose and flowing robes, her eyes closed, power rippling from her like wind. Nanami and Jowy adopt defensive positions a moment before realizing who it is and relaxing.

"Your time at the center of history seems to be at an end," Leknaat says.

The words come like a vision of what might have been, of Riou steering this new nation of Highland and City-State into a future brighter than he could have hoped. And all it would take is his presence, his leadership. The unasked question floats up from the spaces between the words spoken. _Why did you fight, if not for this future?_

Riou looks at Nanami and Jowy, the way their eyes move between him and Leknaat. They suspect that this is some last test, some last entreaty for him to stay. He can feel their fear, their wounds from this war far from healed. They want to trust him, but think they are making him betray something in the process. They know that he is leaving behind more than they are, because they are already dead in the eyes of everyone.

Riou takes a deep breath.

"I think I finally have my reason," he says, and Leknaat doesn't bat an eye, knows exactly what he's talking about. Sometimes it seems that the entire war was just a pretense, just an excuse to ask this question over and over again. And Riou has gone through every reason, every justification for fighting. For love, for justice, for revenge, for honor, for obligation, for hope, for peace. He's found reasons for fighting in the embrace of his lovers, in the hope for a future without war.

"And...?" Leknaat asks. The air is thick, charged, electric.

"And I don't owe you an answer," he says. "I don't owe anyone an answer. Think that I fought to make the world a better place. Think that I fought to save as many lives as I could save. When I go, other people will invent enough reasons why I did what I did. Pick one of those. My reasons..."

His gaze turns and lingers on Nanami and Jowy again, and the small smiles turning up the corners of their mouths. Stupid, that it took them so long to realize what Nanami had known so much earlier.

"...I'm done with fighting. I hope that I made a difference. That I helped some people. But the reason...I think that's only a story we tell ourselves about what we do. A way to give it meaning. And I don't need that. I will struggle with what I've done. I will carry it with me. But I will carry it to a place where I can build something without armies and without weapons. A home, for me and my family."

And he grins, turning away from Leknaat and to the people who have been with him his entire life. They don't have to speak. They all just move away, leaving destiny behind them, walking into a future they can all call home.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This is the final fic in this series that I've written while playing through Suikoden II after over a decade away. It really is a beautiful game, and it hits the theme of why Riou fights again and again. These fics have been my attempt to find an answer that fits with everything in the series (okay yes, and to just have some smutty fun). I did pretty much always chose the ".................." options every time the question came up, because that felt truest to me. It's a game that deals with extreme trauma and with the cost of war, and glob the ending is just such an emotional roller coaster, but so so so good. Well, thanks for reading!


End file.
